Page:The Queens of England.djvu/380

 340 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. sitting day and night by his couch, during the tedious time that intervened before his death released her from so heavy a trial. His temper, always bad, became insupportable as he approached his end ; and cruelty, with him an instinct, in- creased as the time drew near when he could no longer exer- cise its dictates. His dying hours were fraught with horror, offering a fearful lesson of the results of an ill-spent life. If we may credit the statements of more than one of his his- torians, Henry, when death overtook him, was on the point of bringing a fresh charge against his aueen for heresy; but these statements appear almost too terrible for belief, except that, like the eastern tyrants, whom in many points he resem- bled, he might wish that the object of his gross love should not survive him, and therefore decided to doom her to death when he could no longer hope to retard his own departure from life. That Katharine could have had no suspicion of Henry's last intention to destroy her is proved by her unfeigned sur- prise and disappointment when his will was made known to her, on finding that she had not been appointed to the regency nor intrusted with the care of the youthful Edward. Her an- noyance on this occasion betrays that ambition still lived in her breast, notwithstanding that she had seen enough, Heaven knows, to have revealed the worthlessness of the fulfillment of its highest yearnings. The affection always professed towards her by the youthful sovereign must have led her to believe that she might still retain a powerful influence over him ; but the Earl of Hertford, who had determined to take charge of his nephew, allowed no opportunities to the queen to cultivate the affection of which she imagined she had sown the seeds too carefully to doubt a plentiful harvest. Perhaps the hope of gaining access to the youthful king may have induced Katharine to violate all etiquette, in receiv- ing the vows of her former suitor, Sir Thomas Seymour, ere yet the grave had closed over her royal husband. Sir Thomas was the younger brother of the Earl of Hertford, now become Duke of Somerset, who held full power over the king ; and as Sir Thomas was also uncle to the sovereign, and had been appointed one of the regency till the king's majority, Katharine might naturally enough have thought that through this con- nection she might again be brought in contact with Edward. Whatever might be the motive, certain it is that she had many